Plus: EV carsharing in Poland; Getting an E-bus is easier (in US); UK mandates EV smart chargers in new homes
Hi Everyone,
Fewer meaty stories this week…must be summer, eh? Everyone’s talking about plastic straws these days, which I think helps socialize the plastics challenge, even if you want to argue about whether is makes a difference for ocean plastics. Good to see it provoking conversations, I think.
Consider forwarding this on to others you think may be interested.
Thanks,
Peter
BYD and Generate Capital Take the ‘Messiness’ Out of Deploying Electric Buses
Excerpt: Generate Capital will invest $200 million to buy and lease the buses. Warren Buffett-backed BYD, one of the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturers, will make and market the buses to public- and private-sector customers.
“They can lease the whole entire bus, including the batteries — and right now our 40-foot bus with batteries is around $780,000,” said Hill. “Or they could buy the bus for a fraction of that amount of money and lease the batteries on a monthly payment.”
The BYD-Generate venture already has several clients, including prominent universities, top corporations and smaller municipalities. Greentech Media
Comment: The high upfront cost for electric buses is a big barrier for many small to medium municipalities. So I’ll be interested in see the response to this new venture. Toronto is getting 30 electric buses, but it the city is getting funding support from the provincial and federal governments.
Suncor says renewables key to emissions goal
Excerpt: Canadian energy company Suncor said it sees oil and gas as having a long future ahead, but renewables are evolving as an important balance in its portfolio. “Suncor has an ambitious greenhouse gas emissions goal to reduce carbon intensity by 30 percent by 2030, and investment in renewable energy is part of the solution,” the company stated in an annual sustainability report. UPI
Full life-cycle emissions of an electric car vs gas car?
A colleague wondered if I had seen any good studies to answer this question, to which I answered “no, but I’ll keep an eye out”.
Has anyone seen good analysis of this?
It did make me go looking. Here is what a quick search revealed:
- A 2017 study from China showed the production phase resulted in 59-60% (note tight range) higher Co2 emissions for EVs than ICEs. The battery and higher curb weight for EVs were among the reasons.
- A 2015 review (feels a bit too old to me) of various LCAs suggests 60-90% of life-cycle emissions are in the use phase of an EV. It concludes:
“The LCA literature shows the main contributor to GHG emissions of EVs is the use, and the most important factors in estimating those emissions are the electricity mix, vehicle lifetime, and driver behavior. Battery manufacturing and battery end of life are still being developed and researched, and manufacturing batteries is a large contributor to the manufacturing emissions of EVs. Recycling and second-life applications present an opportunity for increasing the value and lowering environmental impacts of EV batteries.”
So there are lots of factors at play. EVs are said to last longer, plus let’s not forget that used EV batteries are being put to work for grid-related storage – for 10 years or more (some claim 15-20) after spending at least 8 years in a car or 12 years in a bus.
Polish Electric Carsharing Program Passes 30,000 Users
Excerpt: from Clean Technica
- Vozilla, operating in Wroklaw, Poland — has passed 30,000 users after approximately a year of service.
- There are 180 LEAFs in the carsharing program and 20 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans
- it’s just ~27¢ USD per minute of driving and 3¢ USD per minute parked.
EV charging points in new build homes among plans to overhaul UK transport
The UK government unveiled plans to turn the country into a world leader in electric vehicles include making builders install charging points in all new homes and ensuring street-lighting columns have charging capabilities. Courtesy of Energy Storage Report
…and in related news…
UK mandates smart charging
Excerpt: Deemed most important by the networks and energy sector more generally is the regulation to ensure all charge points sold or installed are ‘smart’, meaning they can receive, process and react to information or signals, such as by adjusting the rate of charge or discharge; transmit, monitor and record information such as energy consumption data; comply with requirements around security; and be accessed remotely. Current
China EV Battery Boom Set to Turn Ugly as Subsidies Revised
Excerpt: “This has been a heavily subsidized market in which the government has thrown money at everything and everybody that wants to give it a try,” Mark Newman, Bernstein’s lead global analyst for batteries, energy storage and electric vehicles, said in a July 9 phone interview. “Now they’re trying to wean them off, and you’re starting to see who is a worthy battery maker that can actually survive.” Bloomberg
China Has 487 Electric-Car Makers, and Local Governments Are Clamoring for More
Excerpt: In June, the National Development and Reform Commission and China Construction Bank announced a new $47 billion fund for EVs and other high-tech industries. Regional governments are making similar funding commitments. Direct government subsidies on electric-vehicle sales have totaled $15 billion over the last five years.
Singulato Chief Executive Shen Haiyin estimates that just 10% of today’s EV startups will survive the next five years. Some auto analysts put the figure nearer to 1%.
“A lot of capital is being invested in this industry,” said Paul Gong, an analyst at UBS. “A lot of it will be wasted.”
Lured by the prospect of handouts, many companies have concluded that “simply giving it a shot and receiving government support can be a reasonable business model, even if they never put an electric car on the road,” said Scott Kennedy, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Wall Street Journal